|The Red Raven|

Chapter Two

I could feel the time ticking on, it was almost seven by my intuition and we had only about three hours left. My mind was drifting, thinking about Niraya and the three extra guards I had seen earlier, something was stirring and I hated the feeling of fear. It made me feel weak.
"You're busy then" Q'ara smirked, she placed a completed PCB on a stack nearby, a familiar woman came past with a box and took them away.
"I've got things on my mind" I told her in a way that sounded like I was just telling her to bugger off and leave me alone, I actually enjoyed talking to Q'ara on a good day. Today was not that day.
"Did you see the paper today?" She made small talk, or what I thought was small talk, I shook my head absentmindedly and she nodded in acknowledgement, "News about the king"
"Is he dying?"
"No"
"Then it's not exciting" I grumbled, finishing my own PCB and plopping it on the now empty pile.
"Keep your voice down" Q'ara muttered, I rolled my eyes and stood up, heading over to the supplies drop and taking another box of PCB's and tossing them on the bench between Q'ara and myself.
"Everyone feels the same way" I reminded her and she said opened her mouth then closed it again like a fish, struggling for a response.
"You've never seen him" She found her voice and accused me rudely, she was twirling a strand of her dirty brown hair and flecks of dirt were dropping on the floor. I tried to keep my lip from curling in disgust.
"That's my point, how can we support a monarch we've never met, or seen for that matter. With the obvious exception of paintings but how many of those have we seen either" I rambled, "I don't even know how many princes or princesses he has, and frankly I don't care".
"Three, Randar, Veyre and Liana" Q'ara didn't even pause her work, she shrugged when I raised an eyebrow at her, "my mother is a royalist"
I was about to respond with something snarking when someone bumped past me and I jumped, the solder iron flipping out my hand and flying down. The world seemed to slow for those few seconds, the man was turning to shout at me for getting in his way, his grey eyes piercing and angry. I reached hastily for the falling iron, Q'ara putting hers down and grabbing for mine as well. So I watched the iron plunge into the grey eyed man's foot, I winced and held my breath.
He looked down slowly, then lifted his eyes to lock onto mine.
"You bitch" He almost howled, I leapt from my seat as he attempted to grab me but his hand clasped around my wrist and I yelped. The man yanked the iron from his foot with a flicker of pain that crossed his face, he turned to me. My heart hammered as the iron came toward my hand, I twisted in his grip.
"Don't" I warned, I wouldn't beg, it wasn't my style but at that moment I regretted my stubbornness.
"Let her go!" I heard Q'ara beg on my behalf, she probably thought I was one hundred shades of crazy for trying to demand the man to stop instead of begging him.
"Stay still. I wanna carve my initials in your arm, remind you to watch your back. Filthy bitch" He hissed, I could feel the heat from the iron as it came near my arm, I could also see the steam coming from his foot and the pure pain on his face from the way he pulled his eyebrows together.
"Please!" Q'ara begged again, I made a mental note in the moment to thank for trying to save my flesh from a nice frying. I flexed my fingers, my wrist, my elbow and even my shoulder to get away but his own pain had somehow made his grip tighter. Just as the iron touched my skin and I hissed, sucking air in through my teeth, a fist collided with the man's jaw. He fell in a sprawling, screaming mess, the iron was in the air again but the same hand reached out and caught it easily.
I stepped back about three paces until I collided with Q'ara who grabbed my arm, she was shaking. My wrist ached but I ignored it, the burning had numbed already and I was too confused to notice.
"It was an accident" The boy who punched him explained calmly, I glanced at him and felt my teeth grind together when I realised. Marco was grinning like a cheshire cat, seemingly very proud of himself. He was actually a pain in the neck, we went to school together and he had an enormous crush on Anya, I always caught him following her around. I rarely saw him anymore despite living next door, even if I did catch a glance, he looked like everyone else: brown hair, brown eyes and sunken cheeks, malnutrition like almost every teenager in Direhill. In my eyes, he was a creep and wouldn't leave my sister alone, when she left school and started working in the factory, he would slip out the back door so he could follow her home. Several occasions I came home and he was waiting outside our front door. My mother thought it was endearing but I found it plain annoying, even Anya didn't mind, she enjoyed the attention I think.
"Accident or not, look at my foot!" The man demanded, rubbing his bruised jaw. I stepped back again as he pulled himself into a sitting position, I wasn't scared but I wasn't going to let him grab my ankle and drag me down. Then he would have the advantage and I didn't have my knives, I would be defenceless. As a woman in Direhill it's hard to defend yourself without getting arrested and well, you know what happens after that.
"She didn't mean to" Q'ara piped up but he glared at her and she shrunk back.
"Don't bother coming back" He hissed, "Managers gonna hear of this", and with that he limped off and I breathed.
"Thanks Q'ara" I smiled half heartedly and she pursed her lips, nodding.
"Yeah, because she punched him, or did I miss that?" Marco's voice cut in, it was deeper than I remembered, I turned to face him. He had a thin stubble along his jaw, olive skin and thick dark lashes that brushed his cheek when he blinked.
"Violence is never the answer" I muttered, hoping he wouldn't remember.
"Quoting Anya now? What happened to you Drea?" He laughed, putting his hands in his overall pockets.
"I grew up." I retorted, gathering up my PCBs to put away before I left, "Anyway, when did you even get a job here, you were training to be a soldier"
"I didn't pass the exam, and I have weak lungs apparently, but who doesn't in these parts" He grinned, I scowled, he thought he could charm me after failing with my sister.
"Well you might get a promotion now, I'm out so maybe you're in" I told him, pushing my stool under the bench and smiling sadly at Q'ara. I caught a glimpse of blood on the floor and suddenly the smell of burning flesh hit my nose, I had to hold back a gag.
"Come back tomorrow" He insisted, "so much happens around here, no one will remember"
"Really?" I said sarcastically, "I stabbed someone in the foot, that's something to remember", but the crowd had already began to disperse, I didn't even know they were there to begin with.
"It's too much paperwork to sack you" He reminded me and I rolled my eyes.
"Maybe they won't bother, hiring someone to kill me would be easier" I grumbled, "and far less paperwork"
"There it is" He chuckled.
"Shut up"
"No I like it, no one around here fights back. I missed it. I hoped you hadn't grown up" Marco added hastily. I raised my eyebrows, no one ever enjoyed a disagreement with me because I was just irritating, even when we were younger and I picked on him for stalking Anya.
"I need to go before I get escorted out so go do your work" I said uncertainly, trying to find a way to get him to leave me alone and it worked because he just laughed and walked off. I glanced sideways at Q'ara but she was invested in her work again, hoping my accident wouldn't affect her job.
With that, I left my bench and went to sit in the entryway, waiting for Anya who most likely heard of my situation.
I leaned my head back and sighed deeply, trust me to fuck this up, I thought. But before I could beat myself up anymore, I drifted into a memory.